Graphite mold for making tungsten carbide.
This is a little graphite mold I made for a Popular Science column about making tungsten carbide bits from scratch. Well actually, from tungsten carbide and cobalt powders. It turns out this is surprisingly easy, though the quality of the resulting bits can't possibly match that of commercially created material.
The edges of the mold are thinned because it spent minutes on end directly under an oxyacetylene flame being heated to around 6000F. Frankly it's a testament to the temperature and oxidation resistance of graphite that there's anything left at all.
Look under tungsten to find the actual bits I made.Source:Theodore GrayContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:1 December, 2008Text Updated:29 January, 2009Price: $0.50Size: 1"Purity: >98%